Roasted garlic mustard and peppermint bath salts: what do they have in common? Well, they can both be made in your own home and stored in reusable containers!
Better yet, these DIY crafts create little waste, and make great gifts.
We’ve been thinking a lot about sustainable gifts for the holiday season (just check out our last blog about experience based presents!) DIY presents are not only sustainable, but are also thoughtful. They show the receiver that you have put extra time and effort into the homemade item.
Since we usually gift to multiple people, we have included two DIY’s that will suit various tastes. While these crafts are pretty different from each other, they are equally fun to make and are sure to delight your loved ones!
Whole Grain Roasted Garlic Mustard
This recipe was originally posted at Eating Well, and has been slightly altered by our very own Chef Dawn!
Makes 8 cups
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups whole yellow mustard seeds
3/4 cup whole brown mustard seeds
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water, plus more as needed
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Agave or honey, to taste
2 Tbsp salt
Directions
1. Pour the mustard seeds, vinegar and water in a large bowl and let soak overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 400F, remove papery skin from outside of garlic leaving all the cloves in tact. Cut off the top so that the insides are exposed. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly in foil. Roast for about an hour, or until really soft. Cool and squeeze half the bulb into a blender.
3. Add half the mustard mixture in with the garlic and blend, adding water to loosen as needed. Pour into a bowl and add the remaining garlic and mustard mixture, blending this as well and adding to the rest. Stir in maple syrup and salt. Taste mixture and add honey or agave as needed to sweeten more.
4. Refrigerate up to a month.
Peppermint Bath Salts
This recipe was originally posted by Debra Maslowski and was originally posted at diynatural.com.
Ingredients
2 cups salt mix, divided in half natural red food color peppermint essential oil about a teaspoon of liquid vegetable glycerin, divided
pint jar with a lid
bowl half full with sand or rice
2 spoons
2 mixing bowls
Directions
1. Divide the salt mixture into two bowls. Add 15-20 drops of peppermint essential oil to each bowl and stir. Add about a half a teaspoon of liquid vegetable glycerin to each bowl and stir to coat all of the salts. They should be shiny and not dry looking – add a little more if needed.
2. In one bowl, add a few drops of red food color. Stir to coat. Add more if necessary to get a uniform red color. Leave the other bowl of salt white.
3. Take your jar and nestle it into the sand or rice at an angle. Using the spoons, layer alternating colors of salts into the jar while it is at an angle. When you get to the top, pack it tight so the salt layers won’t shift. Put the lid on and tip upright.
4. Add a label that instructs using a handful of salts for general use or 1-2 cups for detoxification.